


The First Snow aka Delivery (from Santa)

by neon



Category: Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:48:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28276344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neon/pseuds/neon
Summary: "Snow," says Andrea, turning to him with wonder in his voice. "Look, Cloud — it’ssnowing."
Relationships: Andrea Rhodea/Cloud Strife
Comments: 10
Kudos: 15
Collections: Rhifealachian AUs





	The First Snow aka Delivery (from Santa)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MoonlightPastime](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonlightPastime/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Delivery (from Strife)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23845003) by [MoonlightPastime](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonlightPastime/pseuds/MoonlightPastime). 



> A present for Moon for Christmas, and also for the 8 month anniversary of her phenomenal fic, ["Delivery (from Strife)"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23845003/chapters/57305149). This universe and these wonderful iterations of Cloud and Andrea were created by her. If you, reader, enjoy this fic please check hers out.
> 
> Moon, you might recognize this from our discord discussions. Hope you don’t mind that I wrote a version of it.
> 
> And Moon, I can’t describe how much you and the wonderful discord have done for me this year. Maybe the words of this story will convey some of that thanks for me.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this small gift!
> 
> Oh, and a _huge_ thanks to Avasti for looking this over. ;)

Andrea gasps as he flies to his apartment window. Formerly reclining on the couch, Cloud lifts his head from the arm and sits up in one swift move, readying for some threat he possibly thinks Andrea’s perceived.

"Andrea, what’s — Hey!"

Andrea’s already through his door and rushing out to climb the fire escape. Cloud’s behind him, right on his heels, urgently calling his name again.

Andrea finally halts on the rooftop. Cloud’s too graceful to collide into the back of him, though it’s a near thing.

"What the hell, Andrea—"

"Snow," says Andrea, turning to him with wonder in his voice. "Look, Cloud — it’s _snowing._ "

Cloud’s eyes widen. He stares at Andrea though, not the drifting sky. His brow furrows when he does at last take in the air around them.

"Yeah… I can see that."

Ah, so that’s how it is. Snow is something only Andrea has never experienced before. Of course Cloud has, one more part of his wide travels for Andrea to be envious over. Until now. This time, the world has come to visit him.

And in what a way.

Andrea is entranced by the sheer _beauty_ of it all. He could get lost staring through the curtains of swirling snowfall, could get hypnotized by the glitter of it. The purest white, and an absolute quiet Andrea didn’t think possible, descends over everything. So little snow’s fallen yet, and already the neighborhood he’s become accustomed to is changed. Almost unrecognizable in sight and sound.

Andrea blinks as his vision’s clouded — by his own breath, he realizes. Inspired, he tilts his head back, parts his mouth, and exhales a steadier stream up toward the heavens. He does it again. And again. God, he doesn’t think he’s ever breathed air that’s felt this clean, even since the reactors have stopped polluting their atmosphere.

Cloud finally grumbles at him, "Knock it off… you keep doing that, you’re bound to get lightheaded."

Better be careful then not to get too close to the roof’s edge, Andrea muses. Though he’s certain Cloud will — like before, during one other wonderful escapade on this roof — catch him if he should falter. Andrea chuckles at himself, before he relents, "All right, all right — I’ll control myself." Even if Andrea _is_ starting to feel lightheaded, Cloud can’t honestly blame him. Of course he’s left breathless from his first time experiencing _this._

 _This_ including the crisp cold. Andrea is also beginning to feel a chill creep into his arms.

Cloud sighs. He must glimpse the chocobumps that start to rise on Andrea’s skin. He turns back toward the fire escape, reappearing moments later with a thick blanket Andrea doesn’t remember owning. It’s tossed over Andrea’s shoulders. At the faintest smell of motor exhaust, and the familiar hint of Cloud, Andrea realizes it must have been pulled from Cloud’s bike compartment.

Andrea holds it closer around himself. "Thank you, my dear." Cloud hums, coming to stand beside Andrea.

"Gonna catch a cold, you dork." Andrea gasps softly and puts a hand to his chest, mock affronted at being called such a thing. "Or worse."

"It’s hardly _that_ chilly out."

"Hypothermia’s no joke."

Andrea has turned his palm toward the sky to catch one of the crystalline flakes. Enraptured by the beauty of such utter perfection in symmetry, with the snowflake melting its pattern into the warmer skin of his hand, looking at it strangely brings to mind their visit before to Aerith’s garden. How spectacular nature can be, in so many ways. He’s pulled from his study, though, something about the way Cloud speaks that simple sentence niggling at Andrea. That tone Cloud takes, when he unintentionally isn’t mentioning the experience that lies beneath his words.

"Is that… something you’ve suffered before?"

Cloud’s eyes flick to Andrea, a small spark of surprise in them, before he sends his gaze outward, covering his chest with crossed arms. "Oh, uh, yeah… Collapsed after getting lost on a mountain during a bad storm. Luckily got rescued by this old climber."

Well, that is… alarming. Terrifying, even. Andrea shouldn’t be shocked to hear of yet another close call Cloud’s faced. But still he is, every time. A silent thanks is sent out to that old climber by Andrea.

In the here and now though, he steps closer to Cloud, stretching the blanket so it covers his shoulders as well. Cloud blinks at the gesture, then at Andrea. Andrea simply smiles back at him.

"You’ll keep the chill away better than any blanket… don’t you agree?"

Cloud snorts, lightly. "Nice excuse." But he doesn’t shift away.

Instead, he turns to more fully press his body along Andrea’s. Winds his arms around Andrea’s sides to hold him properly. And he truly is warm.

After his initial surprise, Andrea sighs, content, and joins Cloud in staring out at the wonderful, wonderful scene. A few moments later he turns and angles his face slightly down, to watch Cloud watch the snow.

Turns out Cloud is just as captivating.

So close, Andrea can see the pale freckles that don the tops of his cheeks. Cheeks that are colored from the cold slightly pink, just like the tip of his nose. And his eyes, they’re even more brilliantly iridescent against the white backdrop. Absolutely Cloud’s shade.

They stand together like that for a long while. Until Cloud feels the shivers Andrea has been trying to suppress in order to make the moment last. Cloud finally decides for them, "Come on," leading Andrea by the hand back toward the fire escape. Leaving the blanket on Andrea’s shoulders, of course.

Back inside the apartment, Andrea lifts those slender fingers that are locked with his to his lips, kissing warmth back into their own chill tips. Cloud gifts him with a faint — but always beautiful — smile. Before gradually untangling himself, facing the kitchen.

"Hey. You got any milk? And cocoa?"

Andrea’s sure about the milk. Not so sure about the cocoa. If he does have any, it will be what remains of some overambitious baking project he once tried to tackle and abandoned. He does seem to recall cocoa as an ingredient that had found a way onto the ceiling during some such fiasco, much like the jam incident. Though he isn’t going to mention that out loud.

"I believe both. Why do you ask?"

"Think I remember another of my mom’s recipes," Cloud states quietly. He starts to rummage around Andrea’s cupboards, finding what he’s looking for in short time. By now he’s used to navigating the layout of Andrea’s kitchen.

He starts to warm milk in a small saucepan, and Andrea lowers into one of the high-backed chairs at the kitchen island, folding the blanket a little more snug over his chest while he watches Cloud concentrate and work. As serious in this endeavor as any other. Soon, Cloud pours and sets a mug down in front of Andrea and one in front of himself, as he settles in the chair across the way.

He blows slowly and silently over the top of his steaming cup. Andrea mimics him, before taking a careful sip.

"My god… this is _delicious._ " Even with Andrea’s limited, he’s sure, supply of proper ingredients. In Cloud's hands, his mother’s recipe is marvelously pulled off again.

Cloud shrugs at the compliment. Silly, humble boy. He glares when Andrea eagerly raises his mug again with both hands, admonishing him, "Andrea. Don’t burn your tongue."

"Ah — right," says Andrea, wincing after he does just that. Almost worth the injury, he decides, to see Cloud’s adorably exasperated eyeroll, and to hear him mumble fondly, "Like talking to Marlene and Denzel, sometimes."

Andrea does feel as excitable as a child, ever since running outside. But Andrea waits more maturely for his drink to cool before attempting another sip. Still as delicious. Perfect as the snow — as the man in front of him.

They sit, and drink, in companionable quiet. The chill ebbs further and further away as Andrea becomes filled by warmth, from the cocoa that pools in his stomach, and the blanket that covers his back. From the view of snow still gracefully dancing outside the kitchen window, just beyond Cloud’s shoulder.

Andrea leans into the back of his chair, and smiles. Truly, what a lovely day.


End file.
